Anno 117's Pax Romana's Hidden Gem Reveals Itself as a Breathtaking First-Person View.
Hold on — were you aware gamers have the option to enjoy the game Anno 117 in first-person? Should that be your response, you’re just as shocked as my own reaction upon finding out this hidden feature. Excuse me while temporarily abandon overseeing my civilization, entrust it to a reliable subordinate, take a wagon, and take a spin through Ancient Rome.
Unlocking the First-Person Mode
As a city-building game, Anno 117 Pax Romana is typically played from an overhead perspective. But, should you enter a secret combination — including “Ctrl,” “Shift,” and “R” on a keyboard or “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B/Circle, A/X” with a gamepad — you gain the ability to walk your domain as a common citizen. Since a similar easter egg appeared in Anno 1800, I looked forward to test it in Ubisoft's newest game, but I wasn’t sure it would function until I found myself submerged in a structural glitch (possibly an unexpected bug — this mode can be prone to glitches now and then).
Roaming the Streets of Rome
After extracting myself, I walked the busy roads across my settlement and visited markets, breweries, flower fields, and seafood collectors — it felt magnificent to observe my diligent efforts through a fresh lens. I noticed numerous fine points that would escape notice when viewing from overhead: Doorway embellishments, an ass transporting a floral pail, chickens running loose, folks chilling on their balconies… Even just observing the design of a windowsill and the coating on a pillar becomes engaging to someone who doesn’t live in Ancient Rome.
More Than Just Walking
But there’s more to Anno 117’s first-person mode beyond simply walking the paths. I became extraordinarily excited the moment I learned that besides being able to look upon farming fields, but also step into them. And although I’d assumed the building models would be off-limits, I could walk onto mud extraction sites, investigate a respected schoolhouse during active classes, and invade personal courtyards. Avoid attempting to open doors (not even the developers allocated resources for that), but it’s entirely possible stroll around a barley farm, watch folks shoveling and carrying sacks, and glance into any tiny hut when there's no doorway obstructing.
Appearance and Mood
Although I was fully prepared to witness my city rendered with outdated visual quality, excluding a few unpolished motions and sometimes citizens positioned in a bench instead of on a bench, first-person mode looks much better than expected. The meticulously crafted materials (particularly rock faces) are unexpectedly excellent within a game that's fundamentally a city-builder. You won't necessarily notice specific hair details, yet you will notice writings on surfaces, sparks flying from torches, discoloration of masonry, pupils, and evergreen foliage. The night, featuring dancing flames and celestial bodies twinkling afar, generates a uniquely immersive environment, and feels much less frightening relative to the previous game, especially since the inhabitants no longer resemble nightmarish entities these days.
Testing and Personalization
Given the covert first-person feature has no guided tutorial, I opted to try different commands, and promptly found the options to jump, sprint, and changing perspective — the last option enabling me to alternate between immersive and external perspectives and return. I then experimented with various digit inputs and found I could alter my character’s appearance. Golden robe? Ruby clothing? Azure and violet outfit? Or — maybe superior — complete battle gear? You can wield a blade and protection, or, my favorite, don a marksman outfit; if you hit the interaction button, you launch incendiary bolts heavenward. In case you’re wondering, harming inhabitants is impossible (not that I attempted, naturally).
Humor and Citizen Interactions
But I wouldn’t wish to harm my citizens anyway, as they're remarkably entertaining. Moments after I entered first-person mode, I overheard a father telling his child that he “Can’t have a pet fox and if you feed it one more chicken, your grandmother will be furious.” Understandable stance, father character. A pleasant regional Celt then began complimenting my brilliant Romano-Celtic policies by describing it as “Ideal combination,” whereas an irritable elderly woman chose to intimidate me: “Repeat that statement, and your disappearance will be permanent.”
The Thrill of Transportation
At the moment I believed I had found everything available in the title's first-person feature, I experienced the pleasure of driving in Ancient Rome. Completely unexpectedly, I selected a carriage and quickly occupied the transport. Cattle, asses, even manually drawn vehicles; you may operate any of them freely. The donkey-powered transport, notably, is pretty fast, but don't anticipate any GTA-like shenanigans — impacting citizens or additional vehicles cannot occur (reiterating, without confirming testing).
Combat Limitations
The sole aspect that let me down regarding the first-person view was finding out I couldn’t partake in any fighting. Wearing my military outfit, I approached opposing forces during active combat and endeavored to damage them, only to be ignored completely. The close-up view remained quite impressive, and seeing opponents retreat, their appendages thrashing around, felt highly gratifying, though it might have been amazing to successfully impact objects using my fiery projectiles.